Director: Terrence Malick
Days of Heaven is easily the most beautifully shot film I've ever seen. A director would likely be happy to get one shot to look like any of shots in this picture. Malick seems to have an endless supply. The images are so pure that they hurt.
However, the story is paper-thin, the acting is sub-par, and the symbolism throughout feels weak. The film is almost too beautiful; it doesn't want you looking under the surface. Perhaps under all that beauty, there is a deeply meaningful film, but I'm not going to watch it a second time to find out.
I felt exactly the same way about this one. Richard Gere is shockingly bad, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteRichard Gere working at a steel mill? It was one of the worst casting decisions I have ever seen. He was unbelievable as his character from the first minute on screen.
ReplyDeleteThe woman, also, wasn't very good. Maybe it's the way Malick wants things - Spacek and Sheen were similar in Badlands, but there it worked.
Also, I loved Spacek's voiceover narration in Badlands. You could see her flattening and falsifying her experience as she tried to explain it. The kid's voiceover in Days of Heaven, not so much.
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